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Abstract

DOI:10.1306/13181289M923410

Application of a Modern Previous HitElectricalNext Hit Borehole Imager and a New Image Interpretation Technique to Evaluate the Porosity and Permeability in Carbonate Reservoirs: A Case History from the Permian Basin, United States

Vivek D. Chitale,1 Clive Johnson,2 David Entzminger,3 Lyn Canter4

1Reservoir Evaluation Services, Halliburton Wireline and Perforating, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
2Occidental of Elk Hills, Inc., Bakersfield, California, U.S.A.
3Whiting Oil and Gas Corp., Midland Office, Midland, Texas, U.S.A.
4Whiting Petroleum Corp., Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sincere thanks are due to Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation, Midland, for releasing the wireline logs and the core data for publication and for allowing the staff to participate in publishing this chapter. Principal author Vivek Chitale is very thankful to John Quirein (Halliburton Wireline and Perforating Services) for providing clarification and insights in terms of running the application program as also the program logic. He also thanks Halliburton for the permission to contribute in this publication.

ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the results of field testing a modern generation wireline Previous HitelectricalNext Hit borehole imager together with a new borehole image interpretation technique applied in a development well drilled in the Permian Basin, Texas. The borehole imager is designed so as to acquire superior quality images even under conditions of a very high ratio of formation resistivity to mud resistivity (Rt:Rm) ratio, which enhances the quality of formation evaluation of carbonate reservoirs particularly. A new borehole image interpretation technique was developed specifically to evaluate the porosity and permeability of carbonate reservoirs by integrating high-resolution data from an Previous HitelectricalTop borehole image log with the conventional wireline logs.

As shown in the chapter, the X-tended Range Micro Imager (XRMI™, manufactured by Halliburton) with improved signal-to-noise ratio and expanded dynamic range was able to yield a high-resolution microconductivity signal. This helped generate very high-resolution borehole images showing millimeter-size features in the fabric of carbonate beds. The microconductivity signal was then analyzed with the help of a newly developed software technique that first equates the total signal with total porosity, which is then resolved into fractions correlatable with micro-, primary, and secondary porosity. The new technique of image interpretation treats permeability based on published petrophysical models of equating rock types in carbonates with porosity types.

Integrated analysis of XRMI and other logs from a Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation well drilled in the Wolfcampian carbonate reservoir in the Permian Basin of the United States shows that facies and layer boundaries, the internal fabric of the carbonates, and the estimates of different porosity fractions and permeability determined using the new imager and the new interpretation technique closely follow the core descriptions and laboratory analysis of porosity and permeability. These results are encouraging because the single well correlation(s) will be applicable in the future to newly drilled wells in similar geological facies in locations without core control.

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